Category: Billericay East (ward)

Thursday was an exceptionally good night for the Conservatives (much better than 2016). We held the five seats we were defending (Billericay East, Billericay West, Burstead, Crouch and Wickford North) and, in addition, won five more (Laindon Park, two seats in Pitsea South-East, Wickford Castledon and Wickford Park). UKIP, who were the second largest party…

BASILDON LOCAL ELECTIONS 2018 It’s that time of the year again and local elections are upon us. We have fifteen seats on Basildon Borough Council up for grabs to determine who will take charge of the Council, which has been in No Overall Control since 2014. The Council is presently led by a coalition of…

Regular readers will recall that I was vehemently opposed to the 2014 application to build a solar farm covering over 26 hectares on Green Belt land off Outwood Farm Road in Billericay. This was granted permission by the Planning Committee, despite an officer recommendation to refuse and opposition from Billericay Town Council, Chelmsford City Council…

The Planning Committee considered an application to build seven flats at the current site of Elizabeth Cottage in Billericay High Street. Unfortunately, some of my old blogs were lost when I upgraded my website but regular readers will doubtless recall that the plight of Elizabeth Cottage is something that has been vexing me almost the…

Last week, Basildon Borough Council launched an online survey on changes to its waste and recycling services and will remain open until midnight on Sunday 27th November 2016. Many of you will shortly be receiving a letter from the Council, if you haven’t already, encouraging you to have your say. This is not just an…

Okey-dokey. So clearly I need to say a few words about the Draft Statement of Consultation on the Local Plan that was published last month, which has inevitably generated strong opinions, a certain level of indignation, as well as the customary rumourmongering and imputations of misconduct against councillors. I shall start with a disclaimer. Firstly,…

Firstly, an apology. I never wrote up the last meeting of Full Council, which I think is a first. I decided to wait for the audio recording to go on the website, as it makes it much easier for me to do the write-up but, low and behold, the Council’s audio-recording system failed again and,…

Earlier this month I took part in elections to the Council of Governors of Basildon & Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the body that runs Basildon Hospital. Those of you who are members of the Trust (and, if you aren’t then you should consider joining – anyone can join their local NHS trust and…

Unfortunately, due to the guillotine being reached, I was unable to deliver my backbench speech on the 2016 Budget for the Borough of Basildon but below is the full text of the speech I would have given: I cannot say I rise to greet this budget with the same enthusiasm I have previous budgets because –…

Apologies that is has taken me over a week to pen this blog about the budget-setting meeting of Full Council on Thursday 11th February but I have had a lot on. The meeting was preceded by an extraordinary meeting of the Council to vote on a proposal from the Deputy Mayor – Cllr Danny Lawrence…